Experience of Treating an Indian Customer

Posted by Yuka as Hot Cities, World

It was a whole week ahead of the time he came to visit our factory, the lady, who’s the Chinese representative of that Indian/Dubai company, called to ask us to pick him at one factory in Taizhou, whose address and contact person’s name and telephone number were shown to us, at the exact time of 5 pm. And also she sent us by EMS the ticket for the customer to go from Shanghai to Nanjing in the afternoon of the day he visited our factory, 5:30 at Shanghai Railway Station. She called many times to make sure the time is OK, we should arrive at the factory in Taizhou at 5 pm, and then we should buy a train ticket for him from Zhuji to Shanghai at the time zone of 1 to 3 by Express train, so that he can be exactly on time for the train to Nanjing. She is so careful, and as the customer later said, she can get everything well planned. And it impressed me a lot. Her carefulness makes sure everything is going on well in order as arranged, and it makes the tough journey much easier for the foreign customer. And I think that’s the good way for the trading companies to serve the customers well, and then get the chance of doing business with them. I should learn from her this attitude of service and well pre-arranged. Also, check again and again to make sure every step is ready.

　　When I arrived at that factory he was visiting, they were still discussing about their purchase order about brake plates. And it seemed that the sales man of that factory was not so good at English, and the customer could not quite understand him, and he could not translate the customer’s words into Chinese for his boss. So the customer asked me to transfer between them. He said that he must know exactly what is the composition of the product, so that he could be an expert in front of his customer and then he can persuade his customer to buy his products. So he asked a lot of questions about all the details of the products. It impressed me a lot. Once I learned about this point, but I never stick to it. Then he asked me to tell the boss, he was keen to know the factory as well as possible, the outlet, the production ability, the products range, and so on. He meant that, once he trusted the supplier and started business with them, he would never turn to others easily, even they may offer him better price. And if there were problems about the products, he’d prefer to point out the problem to the factory and advise them how to improve their quality. He may help the supplier to develop as well. He insisted on long-term cooperative partners. I translated it to the boss, and I myself appreciated his idea very much. That’s the kind of merchandise I wish to cooperate with.

During the way back to our factory, we chatted all the time. He told me the Indian customs nowadays. People are smoking less, but drinking more. And 70% of the youth get married with the one their parents choose, usually around the age of 27. And at the wedding, people also send a small red envelope as the gift, which I told him is the same in China. He heard that there’s a tradition that people always celebrate the birthday if a person is over the age of 80. I confirmed it to him, and told him that people always think that an old man with the age over 80 must have experienced a lot and he is very lucky. People also show their respect and care to the old people. He knew the idea of Communism and Chairman Mao’s time. He is interested in the goal of Communism but he knew the weak point of the Communism, the lack of competition which leads to the laziness and non-workable. Then I know that he’s studied Chinese history and culture before he came. Maybe he’s interested in China and he wants to know more about us. He told me that 70% of Indians are Hindus, and they do not eat beef. 20% are Muslim, who don’t eat pork. And mostly Indians eat chickens. He is curious about Chinese eating habit. He said that, there’s no such a nation like Chinese, who can eat all the animals they catch. He thought it incredible to eat snakes. I don’t know if it’s right or not, but I just told him that some people even eat the meat of mice. Also I explained to him that during Chairman Mao’s time, there were too many people and too less food, so people had to eat everything they can get. He told me he doesn’t need any meat except chickens here in China. And food is a big problem for him in China. He usually just had some fruits and biscuits for lunch or dinner. Then he took out a notebook, on which there were Chinese words for some food that he may need for breakfast, and the corresponding English. He told me he had problems in hotels when having dinner, so that lady wrote down these Chinese-English words for him, and he showed the waiters what he need in English, and they can understand him by the Chinese. That’s really a good idea.

It is 10 o’clock when I got back to my room after set him in the hotel. Then I picked him at 9 in the morning, and saw him taking several kinds of pills after breakfast. Anyway, he’s an old man over 50 at least. And there’s something wrong with his leg as it’s difficult for him to going downstairs. He checked our sample products carefully and pointed out some problems which would be ignored by us. The edge of our products is not so smooth and beautiful, as it’s crashed after the last process of production, which is caused by the carelessness of our workers and surely can be avoided. Then he was keen to see our test machines and tools which are used for the quality control.

Then at 12, the driver took us to Hangzhou railway station, and from there I went with him to South Shanghai Railway Station and then sent him to Shanghai Railway Station, which is a very difficult matter for him to go alone. And in the waiting room of Hangzhou Station, he took out a bag of nuts made in Dubai and gave it to me as a gift, which represents his thanks for me to help him all the way to Shanghai. But there’s only stand ticket for the Express train, and we had to stand for one and a half hours to Shanghai. Then we took the subway from South Shanghai Station to Shanghai Station. He was thankful to me and said it was impossible for him to make this alone. We were on time, and after he checked in, I went back to the factory, arriving at 11 in the evening.

Really, every time I treated and travelled with a foreign customer, I learned a lot. It is a valuable experience for me.